Facing series deficit, Silvertips searching for answers

Published 1:30 am Tuesday, April 11, 2017

EVERETT — The Everett Silvertips just have to go play.

That was the message head coach Kevin Constantine gave following Everett’s 4-3 home loss Saturday to the Seattle Thunderbirds in the second game of a Western Hockey League division semifinal series at Xfinity Arena that dropped the Tips into an 0-2 series hole.

“Both teams work hard and both teams don’t make a ton of mistakes,” Constantine said Monday.

“Both teams can defend. They’ve been a little better than us. We’ve got to find a way, not to change, but we gotta find a way in one of these games to have the puck bounce our direction. We’ve gotta get after it. There are subtle changes. You’re always looking to tweak something, but there’s not going to be a huge philosophical change in our approach.”

The series now shifts to ShoWare Center for Games 3 and 4 tonight and Friday. If necessary, the teams would play Game 5 back in Everett on Saturday.

The Tips haven’t fared well in Kent this season as they fashioned an 0-4-1 mark in five contests. That included Everett’s worst loss of the season, a 6-1 Seattle win on Feb. 26 and a heart-breaking 3-2 loss on Jan. 28 in which the T-Birds erased a 2-1 deficit in the third period.

“We just have to focus on what we can control and that’s going in there and working our hardest and hopefully come out with a good outcome,” Everett forward Patrick Bajkov said. “I think it’s all going to come through our work. They have some pretty hard-working, big d-men, so that’s something we’re going to try to solve.”

The Tips would like to get some production from their top line. The trio of Bajkov, Matt Fonteyne and Dominic Zwerger combined for 24 points in the six-game series with Victoria, but have just one assist between them through the first two games of this series.

Instead it’s been role players like Eetu Tuulola (two goals), Aaron Irving (one goal, one assist), Connor Dewar (one goal, one assist) and Bryce Kindopp (one goal) who provided Everett’s offense.

“We’ve got more to prove going into Tuesday and also Friday,” Bajkov said. “Hopefully it will all come through work and we know that.”

The Thunderbirds are one of the few teams that can match Everett’s compete level. Seattle is very aggressive on its forecheck and turned a pair of turnovers Saturday into goals that turned a 2-1 Everett lead into a 3-2 Seattle advantage in 18 seconds during the second period.

“They come hard and as a group we need to solve that,” said defenseman and Tips captain Noah Juulsen. “We haven’t done a great job at that, but we’ll look at that for sure.”

The Tips also haven’t scored on the power play this series after tallying eight of their 16 goals on the man advantage during the Victoria series. The Thunderbirds have the league’s best postseason penalty kill despite starting 2000-born rookie goalie Carl Stankowski in all six playoff games.

The youngster has a 6-0 record with a .921 save percentage and a 2.17 goals-against average. Stankowski’s performance reminded Constantine of Carter Hart’s first-round series against Spokane two years ago when the then-16-year-old Hart backstopped the Tips to their first playoff series win since 2007.

“He’s done a very good job, and when a kid steps in at that age and does that, you’ve gotta pat him on the back,” Constantine said.

“Some teams that go into that and put a good system around a goalie. I certainly think we did that for Carter as a 16-year-old, and I think Seattle does a wonderful job of that. It’s the right team to play for if you are 16, but he’s done a very good job himself also. You’ve gotta give him some credit, but the team around him that is protecting him some credit also.”

Meanwhile, Hart matches Stankowski’s .921 save percentage to go along with a 4-4 record and a 1.99 GAA so far in the postseason.

If the Tips are going to come back in this series, they will need outstanding goaltending from Hart. The team most valuable player and Western Conference Goaltender of the Year shut out the T-Birds twice during the regular season.

Mathew Barzal, Ethan Bear and Donovan Neuls all have a goal and a pair of assists for Seattle through two games.

For the latest Silvertips news follow Jesse Geleynse on Twitter.